Palm Beaches Marathon – 2021 Edition

Well, that was awful.

Hot and humid… and not much shade.

A two loop course that proved mentally draining… especially since the majority of runners were doing the half and thereby gone from the second loop.

A logistical snafu in clearing the course in the morning meant we started 10-15 minutes late… which meant we lost 10-15 minutes of pre-dawn running.

From early on I felt like I needed to pull back on my pace to avoid heat exhaustion or blowing up. Ironically, I quickly went from consciously dialing it back to being physically unable to go any faster.

An ex-girlfriend of mine had one rule for any of my race wanderings — The first rule of Run Kevin Run is “Don’t Die.”

So, at least I didn’t die.

In 2018, I ran a 3:53:08 here.  Today, it was a 4:02:50.

I don’t recall off the top of my head what the temperature or conditions were like three years ago… but my phone today said “Running” at the finish was “Poor.”  Truth. 

***

Pre-race:

Loop 1:

Loop 2:

The Finish:

 

It was the years, the mileage, the heat and the humidity.

But, again, I didn’t die.  So… there’s that.